Tele-group Cognitive Behavioural Family Intervention for Individuals With Schizophrenia and Their Families (Definitive tgCBFI)

This mixed-method study comprises a RCT with a twelve-week post-intervention follow-up and focus group interviews. The RCT study aims to examine the effectiveness of delivering the tgCBFI programme to dyads of people with schizophrenia and their family caregivers, while the focus group interviews aim to qualitatively study the benefits of the tgCBFI programme from the service users and their family caregivers to provide a more in-depth understanding and complement the quantitative data. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does this online tgCBFI programme reduce the expressed emotion experienced and positive and negative symptoms of individuals with schizophrenia? Does this online tgCBFI programme reduce the perceived care burden and level of mood disturbances of family caregivers?

I. Individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders Inclusion Criteria: * current diagnosis of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, based on ICD-10 made by the treating clinicians, * aged 18-64, and * able to read and write Chinese Exclusion Criteria: * having co-morbidity of learning disability, organic/neurological conditions, or substance use disorder, and * living in a hostel II. Family caregivers Inclusion Criteria: * aged 18 or above, * able to read and write Chinese, * live with service users, and * nominated by the service users Exclusion Criteria: * having active psychiatric conditions